Historical Accuracies in Cinderella Man

The film Cinderella Man takes place during the Great Depression. This film is based on a true story of a boxer, Jim Braddock, during the Depression, so it is very similar to what actually happened. It tells about his life after losing his boxing money in the stock market crash, and how he got back into boxing and was able to help his family get back on their feet.

The Depression Era is shown very accurately. The housing, all the people begging for work, and even the looks on people’s faces are similar to the real thing. The scenes where the men are all at the docks lined up at the fence begging for work is especially accurate. It shows how much they all needed the money and how only a few would be chosen to work each day.

Another scene that shows the depression is when Jim has to go to get relief money. He feels, as many others do, that it is a terrible thing to be in debt or to have to rely on other’s money, which is very different than today’ society. People of the time period felt so badly about borrowing money or taking charity that they would wait until they absolutely needed it before asking. It is hard to accurately portray the depression because of the extreme difference in the overall feeling of the country than there is today, but this film does a great job.

The faces of the people are also a great way to see the feeling of the people. Everywhere, the people are never smiling, they always appear worried. Only sometimes, like at the boxing matches, do they forget about their troubles and become happy for a moment with what is going on around them.

The story of Jim Braddock is also shown almost exactly how it happened. He really did fight with a broken hand even though; it would seem that was only added for dramatic effect. He had to take the bandage off to get work because they wouldn’t choose him if he appeared injured.

He was really as poor as the film depicted him to be, and he did have to go to get relief money. However, as is seen in the movie, he felt so bad about having to take the relief money that he returned it as soon as he could afford to. The only reason he was willing to take the money in the first place was for his kids, who both in the movie and in real life, had to be sent away because Jim couldn’t afford to pay to heat their home and the kids were getting sick. He was so reluctant to get the money that he was skipping meals to give the food to his children because they were hungry and the family couldn’t afford more food, so instead of asking for some money, Jim just gave his food to them.

There are of course some differences between the film and the history. One difference is that in the film Jim is informed of his comeback fight just two days before it is to happen, while in real life he had more time.

Another difference is in the character Max Baer, in the film he is taunting Jim all the time and is made out to be much more of a villain than he actually was. Max Baer in fact did say Jim Braddock was an unworthy opponent, but he didn’t taunt him as was shown in the film, that was just added for entertainment.

One more difference between Jim’s film life and his real life was his wife. In the film she begs him not to fight because she is so worried about him being injured, however in real life she understood his excitement about fighting and she was excited herself, both for the glory and the money he could win. She was still worried about him being injured and because of her fear; she would not come to his fights.

Overall, the film is very good at showing the feelings of the people during the Great Depression, as well as the true story of Jim Braddock. The differences between the film and history are mostly in Braddock’s life and are there to make the movie more entertaining, and they don’t change how the feeling of the country at the time is shown, which remains very similar to how it was.